Healthy Living Loves Local: Sage Farm
Sage Farm Goat Dairy is a family-run farm and creamery located on 27 acres of pasture and woodland in Stowe, VT. Established in 2008 by sisters Molly and Katie Pindell with the help of their partners Dave Wilkens and Bob Sabolefski, Sage Farm produces micro-batch artisanal cheeses from the milk of a small herd of registered Alpine dairy goats. The goats are the backbone of their entire farming operation and as such, they treat them with immense care and compassion. The goats graze outside from the time the snow melts in the spring until it covers the ground again in the late fall. Using intensive rotational management techniques, they change the paddocks daily, providing the goats with a diverse diet of fresh pasture plants. During the winter months, the herd lives in the barn, eating hay grown and harvested on their own land and from other family farms in the local area. They supplement their feed ration with organic grain. They take the relationship between the health of the land and the health of the animals very seriously. As a result, the goats are hardy and productive and the land is very well maintained.
They make a variety of artisanal cheeses on the farm. All of their cheeses are made by hand and aged on the farm in their own aging cave. Each cheese is named after a mountain peak in the area, reflecting the stunning geography that originally drew the family to Vermont.